In wake of the fungal meningitis outbreak that has left over 500 people ill, Massachusetts regulators have announced sanctions on three companies and re-casted an oversight board that has been criticized for being too laidback.

Pharmacy operations in Massachusetts have been under fire since the New England Compounding Center (NECC) shipped thousands of vials of a tainted steroid to medical facilities throughout the United States, Reuters said. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 36 people have died and 541 have been injured from injections of the pain drug, methylprednisolone acetate, Reuters said.

Massachusetts regulators ordered a temporary shutdown of Oncomed Pharmaceuticals, on November 21, amid concerns about its storing of chemotherapy drugs. They also ordered partial shutdowns of two other pharmacies: Pallimed Solutions was sanctioned after it used improper components in preparing one drug, and the Whittier Pharmacist was partially shut down for violations in its sterile compounding operations, Reuters said.

The Department of Public Health also announced three new members to occupy seats on the Massachusetts pharmacy board. Unlike previous appointments, the new board members are not necessarily pharmacists, Reuters said. The new members are executives from a large healthcare system, a large health insurer and a rehabilitation and skilled nursing center, Reuters said.